Positive Daily Commentary on Southern Gospel
Wes Hampton recently went to a Steve Green concert. During the concert, Green called him up to the stage for a duet on “It is Well With My Soul.”
Hampton posted a video of the song:
Seeing this got me thinking that a “three tenors” concert series featuring Green, Hampton, and one other former Gaither Vocal Band tenor (Larnelle Harris, David Phelps, or Terry Franklin) would probably produce some great nights of music.
Jason Waldroup’s thirteen-year tenure with Greater Vision ends Saturday night, with their concert at First Baptist Church in Morristown, Tennessee. Jacob Kitson, their new tenor, has been with them for several weeks, and will perform his first full concert with the group on Wednesday.
In true Greater Vision style, the group is introducing Jacob via an online photo gallery. Greater Vision’s is probably the most extensive photo gallery online, at least among major Southern Gospel groups, and it looks like they won’t be missing a beat with Jacob.
One photo in particular caught my attention. For all those wondering how Jacob’s height–speculation has it he’s taller than Jason Waldroup–will affect Greater Vision’s concert staging, this picture is worth a thousand words:
Over at Averyfineline, frequent commenter CVH comments on a current story, but starts an interesting rabbit trail:
Really, with the possible exception of Michael Card, does anyone consider songwriters to be theologians? Most are nothing more than conveyors of truth as they understand it.
So do we consider songwriters theologians?
More important, should we? Do we have an adequate understanding of how much our theology is impacted by our favorite songs?
Composite Rating: 3.3 stars
Label: Independent
Producers: Glen A. Tabor III and Brothers Forever
Song List: “I Feel A Blessing Coming On,” “That’s Good Enough (Gospel Singer Wannabe),” “I Can’t Forget The Day,” “Be Alright,” “Whenever I Speak His Name,” “More Than I Know,” “Showers Of Blessings,” “It’s Better,” “I Am Him,” “More Than That,” and “The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power”
Website: http://www.brothersforever.net
Contributers:
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Composite Rating: 3.3 stars
Label: Song Garden Music Group
Song List: “At Calvary,” “Living For Jesus,” “The Love Of God,” “Redeemed,” “Unclouded Day,” “What A Friend We Have In Jesus,” “Higher Ground,” “Old Rugged Cross,” “Are You Washed In The Blood,” and “Blessed Assurance”
Website: http://www.paidinfull.net
Contributers:
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Rating: 5 (of 5)
Average Song Rating: 4.3 (of 5)
Song List: Give the World a Smile; Moses; Behold the Master Cometh; I’ll Pray For You; Mention the Name; In the Garden; Wicked Path of Sin; Beautiful Star of Bethlehem; What Did He Ever See In Me; First Step; Little is Much; The Son Will Rise.
Available from: Crossroads.
***
Georgia Live, released by the Kingsmen in 1995, has been out of print for several years. It was recently reissued digitally by Crossroads as part of a series of discounted reissues ($7.99 instead of the standard cost of $9.99 for a new digital album).
Like any good Kingsmen live project, Georgia Live kicks off with a convention song, in this case “Give the World a Smile.” After a decent mid-tempo song, “Moses,” Eldridge Fox was featured on the album’s first major highlight, “Behold the Master Cometh.” The song was inspired by a trip Fox took to the Holy Land, specifically when a backwoods Tennessee preacher read from John at Lazarus’ tomb.
After a string of several songs, “I’ll Pray for You” (featuring Jim Hamill), “Mention the Name” (featuring Chris Collins), and “In the Garden” (featuring Randy Miller), the Kingsmen Band sang a bluegrass arrangement of “Wicked Path of Sin.”
“Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” featured a classic Kingsmen slow-it-down and embellish-the-notes encore.
Tim Surrett sang “What did He Ever See in Me,” a song with a soundtrack. When introducing the song, Hamill emphasized how important live accompaniment was to him (and the Kingsmen style). This is somewhat interesting retrospectively, since today’s Kingsmen sing their entire program with soundtracks.
Another project highlight was Chris Collins’ rendition of “Little is Much,” using the same arrangement that Larry Ford (Homecoming Favorites, 1999) and Ernie Haase (Stand By Me Live, 2004) have used. I’m not entirely sure whether this particular arrangement originated with the Kingsmen or even earlier. (Do any of you know the arrangement’s history?)
The project closes with an uptempo convention song, “The Son Will Rise.”
While I have most of the Kingsmen’s classic live albums from the 70s and 80s, I hadn’t been as familiar with their 1990s sound. While this project may not be quite as good as Big & Live, Live…Naturally, or Live at the University of Alabama, it is in the same ballpark, and it comes pretty close.
Composite Rating: 3.4 stars
Label: Homeplace Records
Producers: The Eddie Crook Company
Song List: “I Can’t Help Smiling,” “Upon The Cross,” “Jesus Loves Me,” “I’ll Have A Mansion,” “I Want To See Jesus,” “Oh Lord, I Love You,” “Give Him My Heart,” “The Man I Need To Be,” “Feed My Sheep,” and “His Love”
Website: http://www.lakesidegospel.com
Contributers:
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Much like Frank Seamans, who in 2005 or so decided to leave Legacy Five but changed his mind several weeks later, Legacy Five pianist Tim Parton changed his mind and decided to stay with the group.
In a press release distributed last night, Parton apologized for the confusion: “I’m sorry for causing confusion…that was not my intent. I appreciate the group giving me the opportunity to continue serving as their pianist.” He said that he is working on balancing his schedule, and looking forward to continuing with Legacy Five.
In the past few years, I have learned some things about recording artists that I never realized before. The main thing that surprised me is that the artists purchase their CDs like any other distributor. Maybe others aren’t as dense as I am but recently I was talking to a recording artist who told me that, often, at concerts where a free will offering is taken, people don’t give in the offering because they plan to buy products. That hit a chord with me since I’ve been guilty of doing the same thing. She went on to say that people don’t understand that these groups need the offering too.
One of my concerns with giving an offering is I’m never sure how much of the offering will really go to the group that’s performing. I do occasionally give money in the offering plate (and I should mention here that supporting the churches who bring in gospel groups is necessary too) but in the instances where I want to make sure the money goes to the group, I will add a little extra to my check or credit card purchase and tell the group they can keep the change.
There’s been a lot of talk about groups disbanding due to funds to keep going. Although I realize a lot of people don’t have tons of money to give at concerts, and I really appreciate the groups who are willing to do concerts for a free will offering in order to allow more people to attend, I hope that those who can afford to do so will help to support these groups who are trying to balance ministry with livelihood.
A couple of stories that didn’t get mentioned earlier this week:
One more thing. This is the first time I’ve done this, but here is a preview of the next few weeks on our weekly Friday CD reviews feature:
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